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1.1.5-Kingedmundsroyalmurder
Brick!club day 5: of philosophy, daily routines, and academia Right, so in chapter five we get M. Bienvenu’s daily routine and more about his personal philosophy. The chapter opens on this sentence: “La vie intérieure de M. Myriel était pleine des mêmes pensées que sa vie publique.” (M. Myriel’s inner life was filled with the same thoughts as his public life.) This suggests two things: Hugo wants us to be clear that M. Bienvenu is actually as good and virtuous as he presents himself and that Hugo remembers that authors are omniscient when it suits him to do so. I liked this bit, from when the Bishop is taking his walks: “Il bénissait et on le bénissait.” (He blessed and they blessed him.) It’s really bringing home the idea that the Bishop doesn’t put himself on some kind of pedestal and really does work to make himself accessible. The idea that he, the Bishop of Digne, who has spoken to Napoleon and has seen more money than most of these people can dream of, who has traveled and been educated and speaks several languages, he still finds value in the blessings of the people he serves. The commoners have something to offer him and he accepts those gifts. (And then, of course, Hugo gets to be Hugo and put in this: “Il visitait les pauvres tant qu’il avait de l’argent; quand il n’en avait plus, il visitait les riches.” (He visited the poor while he had money; when he had none left he visited the rich.)) I did wonder why he minded so much that his clothes were old and worn. It seems almost like vanity, which seems out of character for him. Either that, like the silver utensils, are a lingering holdover from his life as an aristocrat, or he thinks that displaying worn clothes would be some kind of affront to God or to the people. (Which then begs the question of why he doesn’t spend just a touch more money to replace them more regularly, but I accept that he probably doesn’t think that way. He strikes me as a ‘wear it until it’s literally falling to pieces’ kind of person.) Hugo gives us no context for this, which is remarkable in and of itself. For the religious scholars out there is keeping your clothes in good order something you’re supposed to do as a Bishop? Mme. Magloire is good at simultaneously showing her irritation at the way the Bishop chooses to live and displaying her loyalty to him, isn’t she? I love that she subverts his wishes not by denying him things or doing things badly but by forcing as many luxuries on him as she can scrape up. God I love that the Bishop spends his time pouring over the minute differences between different translations of a text and pondering the implications of those differences. That’s not at all familiar, is it? ~grins~ Plus it just goes to show how much of an academic he really is, which is a different side to him than the ones we’ve seen before, which have been very down to earth and concrete. Is it technically breaking the fourth wall if the author references his own status as such within the text itself? So, do any of our historians know the context/full story behind the Bishop’s margin scribblings? (“Correspondance du lord Germain avec les généraux Clinton, Cornwallis et les amiraux de la station de l’Amérique. À Versailles, chez Poinçot, libraire, et à Paris, chez Pissot, libraire, quai des Augustins.” (Correspondence of Lord Germain with generals Clinton, Cornwallis, at the admirals of the American station. At Versailles, at Poincot, bookshop owner, and in Paris, at Pissot, bookshop owner, quay of the Augustins.)) The fact that his preferred name for the Divine is Compassion pretty much sums up his entire philosophy, doesn’t it? Commentary Doeskin-pantaloons Thoughts on the Bishop’s clothes: I figured he was wearing them until they wore out as a money-saving measure, but covering it up not out of vanity, but because he figured that if he was walking around the streets in threadbare clothes, other people would worry or try to clothe him, and he didn’t want to be that burden on them when a lot of the people he’d be visiting would be poor anyway. Kingedmundsroyalmurder (reply to Doeskin-pantaloons) Oooh, that makes a lot of sense, thanks!